Contractor of Record Services

A Contractor of Record is a third-party organisation that takes on the legal and compliance responsibilities of engaging independent contractors on a company's behalf. The COR handles worker classification, local contractor agreements, invoice processing, and payments in the contractor's currency. The hiring company retains full control over the work itself. COR services are used by companies that want to engage global contractors quickly without taking on misclassification risk or building internal compliance infrastructure.

Misclassification risk arises when a contractor is treated like an employee under local law without the corresponding employment rights and tax filings. A COR runs a classification assessment before each engagement begins, checking the relationship against jurisdiction-specific frameworks such as IR35 in the UK, AB5 in California, and equivalent TRADE regulations in other markets. If a worker qualifies as an independent contractor, the COR issues a compliant agreement that documents the independent nature of the relationship, reducing exposure to penalties and back-tax liabilities.

The key distinction is employment status. An Employer of Record formally employs workers, handling PAYE payroll, employer tax contributions, benefits, and full employment rights. A Contractor of Record engages workers as independent contractors, handling classification checks, contractor agreements, invoice management, and payments, without creating an employment relationship. Companies use EOR when they want to bring someone on as a full employee internationally, and COR when they want to engage specialist contractors compliantly without converting them to employee status.

Yes. OnHires can take over compliance and payment management for contractors you have already engaged informally or directly. We start with a classification review of the existing relationship, issue a locally compliant contractor agreement that properly documents the terms, and then handle all invoicing and payments going forward. This is a common use case for companies that have grown their contractor network quickly and need to bring it into a structured, audit-ready framework without disrupting ongoing work.

OnHires supports contractor engagements in 150+ countries under a single master agreement. Rather than requiring country-by-country vendor relationships, you contract once with OnHires and we manage local compliance, agreements, and payments in each jurisdiction. Coverage includes major tech hiring markets across Europe, North America, LATAM, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, making it practical for companies building distributed teams across multiple regions simultaneously.

Most engagements can be activated within a few business days. The process starts with OnHires running a classification check and confirming eligibility. Once confirmed, we issue a locally valid contractor agreement and onboard the contractor to the invoicing platform. Compared to setting up direct contracts, navigating local tax rules, and arranging cross-border payments independently, the COR route significantly compresses onboarding time, which matters when you are hiring on short timelines for project-critical roles.

Contractors submit invoices through the OnHires platform, the hiring company approves them, and OnHires processes payment in the contractor's local currency. Payments are supported in 100+ currencies, and the client company makes one consolidated payout to OnHires rather than managing individual international transfers. All invoices, approvals, and payment records are stored in a single audit trail that is accessible to finance and legal teams, which simplifies reconciliation and satisfies documentation requirements for audits.

OnHires structures every engagement from the start with documentation that supports the independent contractor classification. This includes a locally compliant contractor agreement with clear scope-of-work terms, IP assignment clauses, NDA provisions, and invoicing records that reflect a genuine commercial relationship rather than disguised employment. All contracts, invoices, and payment records are stored in one place and are GDPR-compliant, so if a tax authority in any jurisdiction requests documentation, the full engagement history is available and structured to demonstrate compliance from day one.